Wall Street Oasis - Comments for "Why You Should Reject that Start-Up Job"http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/why-you-should-reject-that-start-up-job
Comments for "Why You Should Reject that Start-Up Job"enGreat insighthttp://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/why-you-should-reject-that-start-up-job#comment-1069382
<p>Great insight</p>
Fri, 03 Jan 2014 20:55:08 +0000yuppiecomment 1069382 at http://www.wallstreetoasis.comGreat post! Start ups are sohttp://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/why-you-should-reject-that-start-up-job#comment-1069341
<p>Great post! Start ups are so over rated! The chances of someone getting company stock and years later becoming a millionaire are slim to none.</p>
Fri, 03 Jan 2014 19:55:32 +0000stillwinnningcomment 1069341 at http://www.wallstreetoasis.com+1 SB, Thanks Man!http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/why-you-should-reject-that-start-up-job#comment-964664
<p>+1 SB, Thanks Man!</p>
Sat, 08 Jun 2013 02:02:13 +0000RSLAcomment 964664 at http://www.wallstreetoasis.com.http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/why-you-should-reject-that-start-up-job#comment-902608
<p>.</p>
Sun, 03 Mar 2013 16:11:18 +0000Culcetcomment 902608 at http://www.wallstreetoasis.comAGREEhttp://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/why-you-should-reject-that-start-up-job#comment-899089
<p>AGREE</p>
Tue, 26 Feb 2013 04:05:45 +0000NILL2013comment 899089 at http://www.wallstreetoasis.comtechguy24:
I worked at ahttp://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/why-you-should-reject-that-start-up-job#comment-898500
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<div class="quote-author"><em>techguy24</em>:</div>
<p class="firstp">I worked at a bootstrapped startup as the 16th employee and went all the way through IPO. While I agree that most VC funded startups offer no monetary value to employees, I found that the average banker/big company person is not out for it. My company went through banker after banker who knew absolutely nothing about business. Lets face it, a career at a ibank is one big training program. It is a pretty easy way to make money if you can get in. If you take a person that is used to that and throw them into the fire, they don't usually know what to do. I found it pretty easy to progress, but I saw a lot of people get caught up in the myths you mention. Just like 1 in 10 startups fail, 1 in 10 people who switch to startups are cut out for it.</p>
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<p>1 in 10 startups <i>succeed</i>*</p>
Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:32:47 +0000NorthSidercomment 898500 at http://www.wallstreetoasis.comI worked at a bootstrappedhttp://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/why-you-should-reject-that-start-up-job#comment-898407
<p>I worked at a bootstrapped startup as the 16th employee and went all the way through IPO. While I agree that most VC funded startups offer no monetary value to employees, I found that the average banker/big company person is not out for it. My company went through banker after banker who knew absolutely nothing about business. Lets face it, a career at a ibank is one big training program. It is a pretty easy way to make money if you can get in. If you take a person that is used to that and throw them into the fire, they don't usually know what to do. I found it pretty easy to progress, but I saw a lot of people get caught up in the myths you mention. Just like 1 in 10 startups fail, 1 in 10 people who switch to startups are cut out for it. </p>
Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:30:00 +0000techguy24comment 898407 at http://www.wallstreetoasis.comI SB'ed this because it'shttp://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/why-you-should-reject-that-start-up-job#comment-898202
<p>I SB'ed this because it's mostly true. It's by design, too - startups benefit from hustling in good talent on the cheap and testing them in hard conditions.</p>
<p>HOWEVER...</p>
<p>The above is written with the caveat that what you are looking for is maximizing the NPV of the career path, and without a differentiating skillset beyond being able to figure things out fast and a willingness to work hard. </p>
<p>I joined a "startup" (in reality a very well funded multi country effort) with no equity and taking a big pay cut, from a "dream job" on a prop <span class='keyword_link'><a href="http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/finance-dictionary/trading-overview">trading</a></span> desk which just wasn't my thing (I thought I had too little experience to have a durable edge). I learned huge amounts in the last year both in terms of soft skills like leadership (and the value of <span class='keyword_link'><a href="http://tinyurl.com/3qtvcjr" rel="nofollow">McKinsey</a></span> and Harvard MBAs) and hard skills like programming. It is definitely worth it. I see it as being paid to go to school, not as employment (and for perspective I am paid 1.3x what we paid our last INSEAD MBA). Once I have enough knowledge and have seen the whole cycle from beginning (when I actually trained the company's first 4 employees on online marketing) to becoming a mid cap corporate (which should happen within a year or two at current growth rate), I will join a few friends and do my own thing. I will have escaped having had to do SEO for some crappy but overfunded iPhone app shop, or yet another "designer T-shirts for half the price" startup that fails to understand the most basic concept of brand.</p>
<p>I gave up hundreds of thousands of dollars in comp and probably millions in NPV, but so far am pretty happy with the choice, because I value NPV less than when I was a college student (or my discount rate is much lower), and freedom both of my hours, my location (travelling all over Asia) and of my work direction much more. The skills I'm learning (like using machine learning to solve business problems) are portable back into finance in a place like <span class='keyword_link'><a href="http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/company/bridgewater">Bridgewater</a></span> in case I want golden chains again.</p>
<p>Also beware of the word "startup". This is the only definition I accept: <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html" title="http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html</a> Pet shops, and coffee chains, are not startups. </p>
<p>Comp is not necessarily worse, by the way. I know several friends who have taken simple ideas - similar to Ferriss' supplements business - to generating <span class='keyword_link'><a href="http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/finance-dictionary/what-is-a-10K">10k</a></span>+ USD <span class='keyword_link'><a href="http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/finance-dictionary/what-is-free-cash-flow-FCF">free cash flow</a></span> per month per product without much efforts beyond the initial hustling to get the supply chain and demand side set up. Most people are lazy and there are a lot of holes in the economy that can be filled by a smart hard working and flexible guy.</p>
Mon, 25 Feb 2013 01:12:13 +0000EURCHF paritycomment 898202 at http://www.wallstreetoasis.comBanker88:
The biggest thinghttp://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/why-you-should-reject-that-start-up-job#comment-897667
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<div class="quote-author"><em>Banker88</em>:</div>
<p class="firstp">The biggest thing that bothers me about many start-ups these days, is how people think an iPhone app is a business in of itself.</p>
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<p>Your silly. How are app companies that create numerous apps not start ups. Do you know how much coding goes into creating a useful app? Apps are more valuable than the phones now. If your a start-up the can product the next useful apps, that gets thousands of daily downloads and is popularly used, how can you not be considered a start-up.</p>
Sun, 24 Feb 2013 03:18:07 +0000sillymonkey123comment 897667 at http://www.wallstreetoasis.comInterned at a start-up lasthttp://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/why-you-should-reject-that-start-up-job#comment-897606
<p>Interned at a start-up last summer and I saw everything that the OP mentioned/agree with everything he says 100%. Seriously, it appeared to me that unless you are the founder or get an offer for a role that is directly below the founder, then working at a start-up isn't worth it. The place that I worked at had mostly Ivy and comparable graduates working for them and it just seemed like a waste of talent. </p>
Sun, 24 Feb 2013 01:35:13 +0000budfox55comment 897606 at http://www.wallstreetoasis.com